Bible Study –Second Sunday in Lent – Take Up Your Cross
Share: Your highs (something that made you happy) and lows (something that made you sad) this week with others around you or write them down.
As in Advent, when we went inward to prepare to go outward with Christmas and Epiphany, in Lent we again go inward – in preparation. In the first two Sundays of Lent, Mark, brilliantly succinct, reveals the preparation Jesus experienced. During the next three Sundays John adds shimmering lights on Jesus’ ministry before we plunge into the Crucifixion, where we watch, from wherever we are, what Jesus must go through in order to give us Easter. These six vignettes invite us to take a closer look at the choices we are making in our lives and what we might choose to jettison, correct, or add.
Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And they offer the various responses that they have heard from others. "But who do YOU say that I am?" asks Jesus. Who are you following? Today, Jesus once again teaches those around him who he is, therefore, what is ahead for the Son of God and what that means for the followers of Jesus.
Opening Prayer: Gracious Lord, we ask you to guide us today as we discover more about who you are and how we are to follow you in our lives each day. Amen
Please open your Bibles to Mark 8:31-38 and read or read the scriptures below.
Mark 8:31-38
Jesus Predicts His Death
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
The Way of the Cross
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Questions (Answers at the bottom of the page):
- Jesus began to teach people openly about what was going to happen to him. What does Jesus say is going to happen to him?
- What is going on between Peter and Jesus in verses 32 and 33?
- Jesus then tells the crowd that “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” What do you think he means? What would it mean to take up our cross and follow Jesus?
Click here for the young learner’s lesson.
Videos (Click on url)
Who is Jesus: Mark 8:31-38: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaNhIcKZZqk
Lent 2B Mark 8:31-38: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foiwpb881pk
Gospel of Mark Summary – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGHqu9-DtXk
Song: I Have Decided to Follow Jesus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L9h9UjIkMM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjr9tVRnDaY
Activities:
Take Up Your Cross: explore the meaning of “taking up your cross and following Jesus” by developing your own “crosses.” In these 40 days of Lent, as we give things up, take things on, or change how we are living our lives, how might those be ways that we are following Jesus? Print out of the cross illustration on the following url: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/797911258965698907/ and illustrate what it might mean to take up your cross to follow Jesus.
If you are having a difficult time thinking about this or figuring out what to do, think about what it means to be a Christian. What are the hard parts? What are the comforting parts? Here are some additional questions that may help you as you ponder what it means to you.
Can you think of times when following Jesus will:
- Make you seem odd to friends at school?
- Will cause you to have to make difficult choices?
- Invite you to be who you really are, using your gifts and talents?
- Help you discover what is really true, valuable, and beautiful?
- Maybe even change your priorities?
Good News Cross: Take a piece of construction paper and a section of the newspaper. Trace and cut out a CROSS (using the Cross on the url above, if you would like) out of the news print and glue it onto the construction paper. Write GOOD NEWS --- TAKE UP YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW ME, etc.
Take Up Your Cross - Crossword: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/take-up-cross
Take Up Your Cross - Word Search: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/take-up-your-cross-3
Take Up Your Cross - Decoder: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/take-up-cross-1
Ash Wednesday was February 14, 2024. It was the first day of Lent which is a 40 day season (excluding Sundays) before Easter. Lent is a time for praying daily and giving of our time and service for others. Please use the 40 Day Lenten Calendars below during Lent.
Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for showing us the ways to follow you. Thank you for loving us as we learn how to do what you call us to do. Amen
Answers to the Questions above:
- Jesus began to teach people openly about what was going to happen to him. What does Jesus say is going to happen to him? (He predicts rejection, then death and resurrection.)
- What is going on between Peter and Jesus in verses 32 and 33? (Peter wants to protect Jesus from the future that Jesus predicts, and Jesus tells Peter he is getting in the way.)
- Jesus then tells the crowd that “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” What do you think he means? What would it mean to take up our cross and follow Jesus? (If we want to follow Jesus, we have to be willing to let our old lives go and begin to take up the way of Jesus)
